Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Battle for the
Living Room. There are two fronts to this battle:
high-end TVs and gaming consoles. CES will generate some buzz for the latest
mega-ultra high def systems while the battle between Xbox and PlayStation will
especially heat up around next Christmas.

Cord-cutting will
continue to be a top story. Because the
different streaming services offer complementary offerings, we think there will
be a shift in coverage away from comparing Netflix vs. Amazon Prime vs. Hulu;
instead, the focus will be more on streaming services vs. cable. Over the next
24 months, cable, while more expensive, has an advantage because it is still easier
to use than having to switch inputs between streaming services and cable
channels.

Consumers still
expect Apple to unveil a new way to watch TV, but Apple will offer, instead,
the iWatch. Samsung beat it to
the punch with a large connected wrist-device that looks it was designed by
Dick Tracy, but we expect Apple to launch its iWatch connected device before it
announces an iTV. That said, we still expect demand for an Apple iTV to
generate a lot of speculation in 2014.

Premature
deathwatch of things that are very much alive. People love to
predict the death of various, usually popular items, devices or technology. Here
are candidates for 2014:

PCs: We may be in a
Post-PC era but corporations (among others) are continuing to buy PCs or Macs;
and if they are buying tablets it’s in addition to, not a replacement of PCs.
They may be ailing, but PCs are not dead yet.

Press releases: Despite social
media, there’s still a place and a value to press releases. And companies need
to make sure they include some of their keywords in their press releases
because that’s important from an SEO perspective. Keep in mind: Google’s algorithm has
changed (again) and that has changed how releases need to be organized. The
rise of multimedia and infographics is having a positive effect on the role of
press releases.

Media relations: Social media is
no longer just for early-adopting B2B companies but media relations continues
to be important. By the end of the decade, both media relations and social
media will converge into a single integrated effort.

Actual deathwatch: Things we feel
are actually dying.

Paper-based
holiday cards: Actually, businesses do seem to be shifting from
paper-based holiday cards to more interactive, email cards (with video or
animation accompanied by a soundtrack) to wish us all season’s greetings.
However, that’s true for business partners and vendors but may not be true for
your Aunt Gloria or college friends.

The phrase “at
press time”: This once routine phrase used by the media is near
obsolete in a 24/7 news cycle.

The words “authentic” and “artisanal”: This may be a pet peeve, but often, when someone claims something to be “authentic” we get the sense the thing in question is actually not authentic. As for artisanal, that seems like a nominee for overused word-of-the-year.

Let us know if you agree or disagree. Check back after New Year's for our final sets of predictions for 2014 or click here for Part I, Part II, Part III or Part IV.